Secret letters will today reveal the Queen’s role in a key moment in Australian history

In August 1975, speaking at a private dinner at Sydney’s Wentworth Hotel, Governor-General Sir John Kerr proudly described himself as “the Queen’s only personal representative in Australia with direct access to her”.

We now know just how constant that communication was. Kerr wrote frequently, at times several letters in a single day. There are 116 of his letters to the Queen, almost all of them sent through her private secretary, Sir Martin Charteris, containing extensive attachments including press reports, other peoples’ letters to Kerr, telegrams and articles. There are also 95 letters from the Queen to Kerr, all through Charteris.

It was not only the obvious importance of letters between the Queen and the governor-general, her representative in Australia, relating to Kerr’s unprecedented dismissal of the elected government that drove this case. It was also the importance of asserting the right of public access to, and control over, our most important archival records.

Its implications will be felt broadly in other Commonwealth nations and potentially in the United Kingdom, where the Royal Archives are firmly closed from public access except with the permission of the monarch. Of equal importance is that the High Court’s ruling has brought the palace letters firmly under Australian law, ending the humiliating quasi-imperial imposition of the Queen’s embargo over our archival records, and over our knowledge of our own history.

There could be no more significant records than the letters between the governor-general and the Queen regarding what the Federal Court described as “one of the most controversial and tumultuous events in the modern history of the nation”.I first came across the palace letters more than a decade ago, when I began exploring Kerr’s papers as part of the research for my biography of Gough Whitlam. When I sought access to them I was told they were “personal” papers - “non-Commonwealth, no appeal”.

There could scarcely be a stronger indication that the Palace was intensely involved with Kerr’s consideration of the possible dismissal of the elected government. This, along with other materials, suggest that at the very least, Kerr had drawn the Palace into his planning before the dismissal.Kerr cites a letter to the Queen in August 1975 in which he raised the “possibility of another double dissolution”.

They don't matter. They told us nothing that wasn't known. How much did it cost the taxpayer for the various court cases run by a far-left professor whose prime objective in this matter is to sell her impending book on the subject?

Devistating news for the revolting republicans 50 years of royal contempt stories shot to pieces in a breath, professor hocking won’t be getting a lefty achievement hug on Q and A shes has wasted 50 years chasing shadows,

As the Australian🇦🇺electorate overwhelmingly ratified Kerr's decision at the subsequent General Election, only ALP True Believers like Hocking & the MSM will be interested in this ancient news. Like Lt Onoda, they're still in the jungle, fighting this lost battle. AusPol

She got it completely wrong. Her theory turned out to be completely false. Time to move on from Gough.

So called professor Jenny Hocking got it completely wrong and now has to be sacked. Find a new job.

Whitlam was dismissed, an election was called later in the year, and the people actually sided with the decision. This was a 'Constitutional Crisis'. Chile and Argentina had a CC about the same time. It ended up with thousands of dead and military juntas. Perspective, people.

So looking forward to palaceletters this morning. Thank you Prof. palaceletters

Bet its not the best letters, what did the governor general do is the question. We all know the queen is bent

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